Nisha Narayanan: Being fearless in the pursuit of belief.

Selected as WCRCINT Transformational Leader 2023, Nisha Narayanan, COO & Director of Red FM has empowered teams, driven success, built future leaders with a strong focus on all her targets. She remains one of the most transformational leaders in the media and broadcasting industry.

In conversation with Nisha Narayanan, COO & Director, Red FM

What makes a reliable and trustworthy leader?

I believe leaders are those who empower others and lead from the front. They should also be great simplifiers. Apart from being someone who inherits a crystal clear vision, a leader must also be someone who can cut through arguments and debate to offer a solution everybody can understand. Building teams into future leaders and focusing on bestowing clarity, vision, and confidence is another compelling virtue of being a reliable and trustworthy leader.

How have you strategised and adopted digital transformations globally?

The medium has been on a growth streak on account of its steadfast nature to embrace the new era of technology. Currently, we are undergoing a seamless transition of growth spearheaded by digitalization. As India’s largest radio channel and also one of the biggest entertainment networks, we are a testament to the digitization of radio. The transformation has been largely to reflect the airwaves, also on the digital landscape. We believe, as long as the content is king, the aim will never be to pitch traditional mediums against digital but to embrace both. The simplest and greatest strategy has been realizing how digital should be taken as a catalyst to grow businesses.

What are the clear changes that you have made to your journey in the last decade?

Motivation and excitement to come to the office each day with the same vigor that I had, when I first started my journey at 18 with the aim of inspiring with the same gusto are qualities that I want to instill in my teams.

Moreover, a consequential change that I have been adhering to is to step away from a linear business approach. The key to the success and the burgeoning growth of the brand has been in being a holistic brand with a diverse platter to cater to our audiences and clients. We create original podcasts, digital shows, and on-ground events, feature independent music, make 360-degree noise, and speak the truth. We have multiple touchpoints on radio, on-ground, and digital being a humongous part of the approach.

Apart from this, I believe the constant need to stay relevant makes the brand eccentric, innovative, and most often than not, a testament to thinking out of the box.

What is the vision and mission of your current role?

At the moment, consolidation is monumental. As a 69-station network, there are multiple obstacles, especially the challenge to hold the individual unit together and yet making each city, a profit center.

Currently, I am envisioning expanding both, vertically and horizontally and making Red FM relevant, to the audience, while keeping the numbers in check.

How do you draw a balance between target orientation and empathetic and compassionate leadership?

I believe in aligning individuals with the vision. Which works wonders for achieving targets with empathetic and compassionate leadership. Besides data and analytics, the two most undervalued factors that must be given their dues have to be unwavering belief and confidence in your team. Target is only one milestone and if supported with personalized attention, there is barely anything human beings can not achieve.

What has been your greatest strength and weakness in the context of your leadership?

My greatest strength lies with my team. An individual is not the only one responsible for great things in business a team of people is. I sincerely believe in my team and stand by them, come what may, even in the face of adversity. The ability to take the best out of my team is what makes me, me. Moreover, I look at life holistically believing that everything has a reason, therefore, hunting opportunities even in the most unexpected situations.

However, I sometimes get emotionally involved in situations, which could hint at weakness. Since it reflects being passionately involved in all things I do, I believe it’s okay too. Being sensitive or emotional is a strength if channelized in the movement forward.

What has been your driving force or philosophy in life?

As Bob Ross wrote, “This is your world, you’re the creator, find freedom on this canvas, believe, that you can do it, cause you can do it.” Similarly, I believe in the conviction of never losing hope. Willpower is an effective instrument that tunes unfavorable situations into productive, efficacious, and conducive ones. I am working towards carving a legacy worth mentioning.

How do you plan to drive your business at a global level in your current role?

Red FM is a NAT-Local brand. We are present across the country reflecting the local ethos of cities and reaching out to local communities. However, at a global level, Red FM’s strength lies in creating content both in Hindi and regional languages that has the force to attract an international audience. Moreover, our vertical Red FM Podcasts has metamorphosed itself into becoming a consort for a versatile range of podcasts including comedy, sports, holistic healing, book reviews murder mysteries and so much more. I truly believe it has the potential of blurring borders and helping us drive the business at a global level.

Your top leadership goals during tough times?

Losing your calm in a crisis is the recipe for becoming the crisis itself. Therefore, I make sure to not crumble under pressure and keep my calm at all times. Ups and downs are all a multifaceted part of the business, and being a leader but panicking never helps. There is titillation in walking fearlessly through turmoil and coming out of it much more evolved.

Your greatest success mantras?

Here’s what my inner dialogue of soaring high sounds like:

• Be fearless in the pursuit of belief.
• As Spiderman says, with great power comes great responsibility, I believe in building an army of leaders within the teams and empowering them.
• Also, success requires single-minded attention to detail and absolute concentration.

How actively have you been personally involved with corporate social responsibilities? What have you felt driving societal responsibilities?

I believe Red FM is not just an entertainment channel, we are conscious of our social responsibilities too and we take pride in driving them ahead. As the biggest radio and entertainment platform, we believe we have the power to touch hearts and through our medium, we have diligently focused on treating everyone as an equal in society. This explains my hands-on involvement in all CSR and developmental work of Red FM.

What’s your vision for the industry and the Indian economy?

It’s discomforting to address how the radio industry is still undermined.  Radio has the last-mile approach. The airwaves are always reachable. It is the creator of the mind, it enhances the listener’s power of imagination. It doesn’t dominate you, it just promises to be with you. Red FM has been consistently demonstrating a commitment to inclusivity and diversity through our initiatives. We have also utilized the platform to amplify the voices of underrepresented groups and raise awareness about important social issues.

As regards the Indian Economy on the date, we are bigger than Britain’s economy and our biggest asset is the youth of this country.